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῾Ālamgīr*’s tawādu῾ (humility) and adab (etiquette)

Maulāna mentions that ῾Ālamgīr rahmatullāhi ῾alayh used to write the Qur’ān with his own hands. Once a person saw him (writing) and said that such and such letter is incorrect. ῾Ālamgīr rahmatullāhi ῾alayh changed the letter even though the person was at fault, and (since that correction was incorrect) he took that page out and re-did it correctly once the person left.

Someone asked, “Why did you write it incorrectly rather than making an excuse?” He replied, “By doing so I would have discouraged him from correcting any mistake (that he sees in me) and I do not want to reduce the number of my Muslihīn (those who correct me).”

Maulāna also mentions that from ῾Ālamgīrī** we understand that ῾Ālamgīr rahmatullāhi ῾alayh was a man of internal knowledge, otherwise a layman (in field of gnosis) does not think in such a manner. In the end part of his life he made a bequest that “My shroud should be bought from the earning I have from handcrafts, even though there is some income from writing Qur’ān as well, and ῾ulamā’ have given permission to use such earning too, but on apparent scale it seems earning income from Qur’ān itself. Hence, I do not want that I meet Allah Ta῾āla in such a shroud which has some doubt in it.”***

Maulāna then mentions that ῾Ālamgīr rahmatullāhi ῾alayh had one personal assistant whose name was Muhammad Qalī. ῾Ālamgīr rahmatullāhi ῾alayh once called out to him by his name “Qalī”. He immediately rushed and took some water for ῾Ālamgīr rahmatullāhi ῾alayh. ῾Ālamgīr rahmatullāhi ῾alayh then made wudhū’. Another person who was present there was shocked at all this since neither ῾Ālamgīr rahmatullāhi ῾alayh had sought any water, nor was it a time for wudhū’. So how did the servant understand that ῾Ālamgīr rahmatullāhi ῾alayh required water for wudhū’.

At last, he asked Muhammad Qalī how he understood the need of the king. Muhammad Qalī said replied, “My full name is Muhammad Qalī and the king has always called out to me by my full name. Today when he left out my first name “Muhammad” I understood that the king is not in Wudhū’ and hence, out of honour and respect he did not utter the name “Muhammad”.

SubhānAllah! ῾Ālamgīr rahmatullāhi ῾alayh’s adab and the understanding of this servant, both are unbelievable.

Malfuzāt Hakīmul Ummat Vol. 26 Pg. 138

*῾Ālamgīr rahmatullāhi ῾alayh was the Mughal king known as Aurangzeb.

**Also known as Fatāwa Hindiyyah

*** ῾Ālamgīr rahmatullāhi ῾alayh used to earn by writing out Qur’ān as well.